Video sharing platform providing for posting content to other websites

ABSTRACT

A method for use in providing content includes hosting a network site on a computer network, displaying on the network site links to one or more videos, and displaying on the network site at least an on-demand preview of a first video in response to a corresponding one of the links being selected. A storage medium stores a computer program for use on a client computer. Several other methods, systems and programs are also disclosed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/868,713, filed Dec. 5, 2006, entitled “VIDEO SHARINGPLATFORM,” the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety.

This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______,filed on the same date as this application, entitled “VIDEO SHARINGPLATFORM PROVIDING FOR PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SHARING AND DISTRIBUTEDDOWNLOADS OF VIDEOS,” identified as Attorney Docket No. 86432[50W8718.02], the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______,filed on the same date as this application, entitled “TOOL FOR CREATINGCONTENT FOR VIDEO SHARING PLATFORM,” identified as Attorney Docket No.86480 [50W8718.03], the entire disclosure of which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______,filed on the same date as this application, entitled “VIDEO SHARINGPLATFORM PROVIDING FOR DOWNLOADING OF CONTENT TO PORTABLE DEVICES,”identified as Attorney Docket No. 86482 [50W8718.05], the entiredisclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to content sharing and delivery,and more specifically to the sharing and delivery of video over largenetworks such as the Internet.

2. Discussion of the Related Art

The proliferation of digital content and the ability to easilydistribute such content via the Internet has provided the public withimmense convenience, efficiency and flexibility. Furthermore, theability to easily distribute content via the Internet has also createdopportunities to provide entertaining websites, applications, etc.

It is with respect to these and other background information factorsthat the present invention has evolved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One embodiment provides a method for use in providing content,comprising: hosting a network site on a computer network; providingmeans to upload video over the network; creating one or more thumbnailstill images from the uploaded video; creating an on-demand video clipbased on the uploaded video data; displaying on the network site linksto one or more videos uploaded over the network; providing an option toinitiate a download of a selected one of the videos in pieces from twoor more computers on the network; displaying on the network site a toolfor searching through the one or more videos; displaying on the networksite a result of a search through the one or more videos; displaying onthe network site an option to create a film strip widget that isrepresentative of the result of the search, wherein the film stripwidget includes display of the still images for the corresponding videosand a command to start an on-demand playback of the created on-demandvideo clip for any video included in the film strip; and posting thefilm strip widget that is representative of the result of the search toa different network site in response to the option being selected.

Another embodiment provides a method for use in providing content,comprising: hosting a network site on a computer network; providingmeans to upload video over the network; creating one or more thumbnailstill images from the uploaded video; creating an on-demand video clipbased on the uploaded video data; displaying on the network site linksto one or more videos uploaded over the network; providing an option toinitiate a download of a selected one of the videos in pieces from twoor more computers on the network; displaying on the network site a toolfor searching through the one or more videos; displaying on the networksite a result of a search through the one or more videos; displaying onthe network site an option to create a feed that will providenotifications of updates to the result of a search; and providingnotifications of updates to the result of a search to users who aresubscribers to the feed.

A better understanding of the features and advantages of variousembodiments of the present invention will be obtained by reference tothe following detailed description and accompanying drawings which setforth an illustrative embodiment in which principles of embodiments ofthe invention are utilized.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features and advantages of embodiments ofthe present invention will be more apparent from the following moreparticular description thereof, presented in conjunction with thefollowing drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system that operates inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example architecture that maybe used for the data center shown in FIG. 1 in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example architecture that maybe used for a client software application in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method that operates inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method that operates inaccordance with another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a distributeddownload in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a method that operates inaccordance with another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a method that operates inaccordance with another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating a method that operates inaccordance with another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating a method that operates inaccordance with another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating a method that operates inaccordance with another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system that may beused to run, implement and/or execute the methods shown and describedherein in accordance with embodiments of the present invention; and

FIGS. 13, 14 and 15 are schematic diagrams illustrating example physicallayouts that may be used for the data center shown in FIG. 1 inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the present invention provide various methods,techniques and features that may be used in a video sharing platform. Avideo sharing platform generally comprises a website or software where auser can distribute video clips. Some embodiments provide for a videosharing platform itself.

Some embodiments allow users to watch, share and create video on theWeb, desktop and/or connected devices. Some embodiments may be used inthe so-called user-generated video space in which users browse videos ona video sharing website and have the option to post them to a widevariety of third party websites directly from the video sharing website.For example, in some embodiments, with one-click, users can add video totheir personal pages on a social networking website (e.g., MySpace,Facebook, Y!360, Friendster, Blogger, etc.) and/or any other webpage.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a system 100 that operates inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The system 100includes a computer network 102, such as for example the Internet. Anetwork site 104, such as for example a video sharing site, may behosted on the network 102. A data center 106 associated with the networksite 104 includes a database 108. The data center 106 may communicatewith the network site 104 through the computer network 102. In someembodiments the database 108 stores information relating to a pluralityof videos, and the network site 104 may include links 110 to one or moreof the videos.

In some embodiments at least an on-demand preview of one of the videosmay be displayed on the network site 104 in response to a correspondingone of the links being selected. An option to download a video may alsobe displayed on the network site 104. In some embodiments a video isdownloaded to a client computer by running a client software applicationon the client computer in response to the download option beingselected. In general, streaming may comprise playing a file as itdownloads, without having to wait for the download to finish, whereaswith downloading the file is copied from the Web sever to the user'scomputer.

In some embodiments a tool for searching through the videos may bedisplayed on the network site 104. A result of a search through thevideos may be displayed on the network site 104 in response to a search.One or more client computers or other devices 114, 116, 118, 120 mayalso be connected or have access to the network 102. Such clientcomputers may be used to visit the network site 104, or other sites suchas a social networking site 122, or any other site, such as the site124.

In some embodiments the client computers or other devices 114, 116, 118,120 may include a client software application that facilitatescommunication through the computer network 102 with the data center 106and database 108. Links to one or more of the videos associated with thedatabase 108 may be displayed on a display screen of the clientcomputer. Furthermore, at least an on-demand preview of videos may bedisplayed on the display screen of the client computers in response to acorresponding one of the links being selected. In some embodiments anoption to download a video may be displayed on the display screen of theclient computer. In some embodiments the client software application mayfacilitate other functions, as will be described below.

An example architecture that may be used for the data center 106 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated inFIG. 2. Specifically, the example architecture 200 includes a database202 and a media manager 204. Similar to as described above, the database202 may store information relating to a plurality of videos. Thedatabase 202 may include one or more separate or subdivided databases,such as for example a video database 230 for storing information and/ordata related to videos, and a system database 232 for storing systeminformation such as for example user or member information and otherinformation or data.

In some embodiments many different outputs may be used with the mediamanager 204 to provide output to a user 206. For example, dynamic HTMLrendering 208 may be used to render to a web browser 210. Dynamic XMLrendering 212 may also be used for applications such as clientapplications, web-based applications and web services that consume XMLdata such as RSS readers, Apple iTunes Software, SONY PSP Media Managerand Internet video search engines that can consume XML and Media RSSfeeds. In some embodiments output may be to a flash videostrip widget214 and/or a flash video player 216, both of which will be describedbelow.

In some embodiments a flash video recorder 218 may be used to provideinput to the architecture 200. In some embodiments output may also beprovided to mobile video players 220 and portable audio or RSS (reallysimple syndication) readers 222. In some embodiments output may also beprovided to one or more affiliate websites 224.

In some embodiments the architecture 200 may includes a video processingmodule 236 and a backend processes module 238. By way of example, thevideo processing module 236 may be used to process the video receivedfrom the flash video recorder 218. The backend processes module 238 maybe used for one or more of web server logs, web analysis, QA bots,statistics, tags, as an emailer, admin web applications, etc.

An example client software application that may be used in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 3.Specifically, as mentioned above, a client software application 302 maybe used to facilitate communication through a computer network 304 witha data center 306. In addition, in some embodiments the client softwareapplication 302 may also be used to facilitate communication through thecomputer network 304 with other peer client computers 308.

In some embodiments, the client software application 302 may include auser interface 310, application logic 312, media playback engine 314,distributed media blogs engine 316, distributed search engine 318,sharing manager 320, desktop database engine 322, connection manager324, web service proxy 326, security layer 328, and peer-to-peer (P2P)networking stack 330. Some embodiments of the present invention providefor public and private sharing of videos or other content. Namely, insome embodiments, the network site 104 (FIG. 1) may be used to sharevideos privately, such as sharing within small groups of family, friendsand people of related interests. In some embodiments, the network site104 (FIG. 1) may be used to share videos publicly. Namely, users mayshare and download video and image files publicly. In some embodiments,the client software application may include a “share publicly” icon. Byclicking this icon a user can share videos and photos publicly, e.g.with the entire world. Anyone can look at the network site 104 andperuse the images and videos that are shared publicly.

For example, in some embodiments a client software application for usein uploading content from a client computer may cause the clientcomputer to execute the following steps, which are illustrated in FIG. 4as the method 400. Namely, in step 402 a first video is established inthe client computer. In step 404 a tool for uploading informationrelated to a first video to a database may be displaying on a displayscreen of the client computer. The database may store informationrelating to the video where the information may include some or all thevideo. In some embodiments, the information may include a digital videofile that is generated from the first video and includes arepresentation of some or all of the first video's video data and audiodata. The information can also include metadata related to the video,such as author or classification information, or comments. Metadata canbe provided by the uploading user, a user that has accessed the video,or an operator or administrator of the server system. Next, in step 406an option for sharing the first video either publicly or privately maybe displayed on the display screen of the client computer. Then, in step408 information relating to the first video may be uploaded to thedatabase. The information relating to the first video may include adesignation whether it is to be shared publicly or privately.

In some embodiments an on-demand video preview that is based on theinformation communicated to the database may be made available on thenetwork, which is indicated by step 410. Such a video sample on the sitemay be, for example, up to 3 minutes long, or a different length. Instep 412 a means or option to initiate a download of a video from one ormore computers on the network may be provided. In some embodiments, thedownloading of the video may be by means of a distributed download,which will be discussed below. For example, the video may be downloadedin pieces from two or more computers or other devices on the network. Insome embodiments such downloading of clips and images may be restrictedto members of the site. Each uploader's biography may be present by themedia so people can find out about groups and ask for an invite.

Thus, in the video sharing process a user may share a file on his PCprivately or publicly. A client may build hashes for the file and addthe user as a file source to a file tracker (discussed below). A clientmay create a video preview and upload it to the network site 104 foron-demand streaming or download. In some embodiments the user canspecify to send an email with a link to shared video to friends andfamily. The data center 106 may generate a special URL for the video,and other clients may download the files through the special URL.

The video sharing process may also be determined during web uploads.Namely, a user may share video publicly or privately by uploading it tothe network site 104. The data center 106 may store the original videoand generate an MP4 file for the uploaded file. The first downloadrequest for the original file may be served from the network site 104storage. Clients that downloaded the file may become file sources andadditional download requests are served from them (discussed below).

In some embodiments commercial video content may also be shared. Namely,such video may be added to the database 108. The data center 106 maytranscode the content for on-demand streaming and download (e.g., formobile and/or portable video players). A video page may be generated forthe content that may be discoverable on the network site 104. Users maydownload the content via a special URL that may be made available on thenetwork site 104. Downloaders (client systems that will or havedownloaded a file) may become video sources and additional downloadersuse them as such (discussed below).

Some embodiments of the present invention provide for distributeddownloads of content, such as videos. For example, when a public orprivate video is made available for distributed download, a hash of thatfile is generated for the purpose of uniquely identifying that filethroughout the network. The hash contains a recursively hierarchicalhash of parts of that file (for example, Tiger-Tree). When a userinitiates a download of this file, the system provides means to locateone or more computers that have already downloaded all or part of thefile. The downloader downloads both the hash and parts the file from thegiven sources, verifies the validity of the downloaded parts andassembles the parts to an identical copy of the downloaded file.

As another example, in some embodiments, when a public or private pieceof media is downloaded from another member, the system will chop thefile up into blocks, or hash files. The code leading to the chunks ofthe files are stored in the settings for the client softwareapplication. When another person initiates a download of the same file,they may get blocks from anyone else who has previously downloaded aportion of that file. In addition, the downloads of multiple pieces of afile from respective peers can proceed in parallel. This provides forimproved efficiency and in some cases speed of downloads.

So potentially, even though the original downloader computer may beoffline, complete versions or enough parts from multiple members existso that the transfer can happen even in his computer's absence. Thisdistribution of the load also results in less upstream bandwidth usedper member and thus quicker, more efficient downloading. In some cases,where downloaders downstream bandwidth is greater than uploadersupstream bandwith, this system provides a faster download compared to anon distributed download. In some cases, the system require lessupstream bandwidth use from network servers that provide files fordownloading, as the upload bandwidth requirements are spread between twoor more servers. In some cases, the system provides a greaterreliability than single-sourced downloading systems because downloadscan continue when a server that offers a file goes offline in the casesthat the parts of the file are already distributed to one or moreadditional network servers by the system. Media shared within a privategroup may not be accessible to members outside the group, which can helpprotect privacy. And in the public realm, a user may remain invisible tothe members downloading blocks of public shared media from him or her.The system robot may only seek blocks matching the code of the file theuser is trying to download.

For example, in some embodiments the client software application maycause the client computer to execute the following steps, which areillustrated in FIG. 5 as the method 500. Namely, in step 502 the clientcomputer may communicate through a computer network with a database thatstores information relating to a plurality of videos. In step 504 theclient computer may display on a display screen of the client computerlinks to one or more of the videos. In step 506, at least an on-demandpreview of a first video may be displayed on the display screen of theclient computer in response to a corresponding one of the links beingselected. In step 508, an option to download the first video may bedisplayed on the display screen of the client computer. And in step 510,when the download option is selected, different portions of the firstvideo may be downloaded from respective other client computers (e.g., asidentified by the database or an associated server). For example, insome embodiments, the first video may be downloaded in pieces from twoor more computers or other devices on the network.

As another example, in some embodiments the first video may bedownloaded to two client computers by running a computer program on theclient computer in response to the download option being selected oneach of the client computers. The program may download the video inchunks, where the initial chunks download operations, on the firstclient computer, downloads the video from one server on the network. Thesubsequent chunk download operations, from a second client computer,download the chunks coming from two or more servers or computers on thenetwork, where each server has chunks that correspond to some or all ofthe first video data. Thus, for example, for three client computers, c1,c2 and c3, assume that computer c1 shares the video. Computer c2 startsdownloading chunks from computer c1. Computer c3 starts downloading thechunks from c1 and c2. Computer c2 downloads additional chunks fromcomputer c3. In the discussion herein, a server may refer to a peercomputer.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a distributed download process inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Similar to asdescribed above, a network 602 may have connected thereto a data center604 and several client computers 606, 608, 610, 612.

In some embodiments, during the video download process a user may clicka video special URL in a webpage or click to download video from theclient software application. The client software application may requesta list of file sources and routability information from the systemtracker. The client starts requesting binary file chunks from routablesources and downloads the chunks. The system tracker may add the clientas a source for the file for future downloads. A system slave (ormultiple slaves) may be used to supply pieces of the file as well (e.g.,as a last resort for initial file distribution). A client file transfermanager may track the progress. The client software applicationassembles the files from the chunks and notifies the user when thedownload is complete.

As shown, a direct transfer may take place between clients 606 and 608when one of the hosts is routable. A bridged transfer may take placebetween client 606 and hosts 610, 612 and using a routable host 608 whenboth hosts are non-routable.

In some embodiments, the distributed downloads technology may comprise apeer-to-peer (P2P) file transfer technology that allows users todownload files directly from one or more users and likewise upload filesto one or more users simultaneously. The technology may comprise onecomponent of the client software application.

This technology may be used for the distribution of large video files aswell as file transfers in a private group setting. In some embodiments,the technology may include one or more of the following benefits:

Unlimited Sharing. Users may share unlimited number of files withoutlimitation on file size and download large files directly from otherusers.

No Central Hosting. The data center 404 does not need to centrally hostshared files on its web servers. Files may be served directly from theuser(s) sharing them.

Scalability. Distributed Downloads may be much more scalable compared todownloads from web or ftp server. With distributed downloads, amultitude of people can download the same large file over the Internetwithout hogging the server that initially made the file available andwithout consuming massive amount of bandwidth by the server. Withdistributed downloads, the bandwidth used to download a file is spreadbetween all the PCs that have started to download the file.

Faster Downloads. Downloads of popular files may be faster because thesum of the upstream bandwidth used for file transfers by the sourcesthat have partially or completely downloaded the file is typicallygreater than the upstream bandwidth from a single file source.

High Availability. File availability may be higher than other filesharing technology, as the original file sharer does not need to beonline for the file transfer to occur (assuming that at least one user“seeding” the file is online at any given time).

Thus, the distributed file sharing system may be more scalable andcheaper to operate than a centrally hosted file distribution system andit may provide a better file sharing experience to users compared toprevious systems. This may be due to higher availability for popularfiles, better download speeds, and conservation of users upstreambandwidth.

Regarding distributed downloads and video sharing, in some embodimentswhen users share a video clip file privately or publicly, a videopreview of up to the first 2, 3, 4, . . . 10, etc. minutes (or someother length) of the source video clip may be created and made availablefor streaming over the web on the network site. All major video formatssuch as QuickTime, Windows Media, MPG, and MPG4 may be supported. Avisitor to the network site may watch the streaming preview and initiatea distributed download of the shared video by clicking on a specialdownload link. The client software downloads the shared video clipidentified by the link using its distributed download technology.

Regarding distributed downloads and private group sharing, the systemmay allow users to share files in private group settings. A member of agroup may browse files shared by other members and request to downloadthem. Downloads may be implemented using distributed downloads. Alldistributed downloads for group file sharing may be encrypted end-to-endusing any encryption technology.

Regarding distributed downloads and upstream bandwidth conservation, anissue with traditional P2P file transfers is upstream bandwidth hogging.Upstream bandwidth hogging occurs when P2P file transfers use all of theupstream bandwidth that is available to the user on his Internetconnection. This may cause other Internet applications running on theuser's computer to become slow or to fail to work. Distributed downloadstechnology may prevent hogging of users upstream bandwidth when otherusers are downloading files from them. The software monitors its use ofupstream bandwidth and will slowdown in-progress file uploads to remainbelow a percentage of bandwidth allocated to the system.

The client software may default to use up to 90% of a typical homebroadband upstream bandwidth (512 kbps). Users with faster or slowerconnections can set a manual limit on the bandwidth allocated to thesystem. In addition, the client software may have a notion of differentcategories of data transfers, such as thumbnail transfer, filetransfers, and audio streaming. To ensure good user experience, limitsmay be applied to each category individually. This technology may allowtransfers to use another category's bandwidth if there is some to spare.So the percentage allocated to a specific category is just what isreserved for that category if it tries to use that bandwidth.

The tracker may comprise a centralized network service that keeps trackof which user PC has what file. The tracker may be used by the clientsoftware to obtain an initial list of sources (PCs running the clientsoftware) that have some or all of a requested file. Information aboutan instance of the client software that is running on a user's PC may beadded to the tracker when that instance starts to download a file. Inaddition, the client software may act as a tracker for files that areshared from that PC privately in a group.

Regarding file blocks and hashes, distributed downloads may beimplemented using, e.g., Merkle hash trees. Files may be transferred inblocks over the Internet and blocks may be assembled into complete fileson the downloader PC. Hash trees may be used to guard against filecorruption, be it malicious in nature or otherwise.

The following references at the indicated Internet addresses are relatedto distributed downloads technology and the entire contents of each arehereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety: Shareza opensource p2p software:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/shareaza/; Open Source bittorent client:http://sourceforge.net/projects/azureus/; Bittorent open source project:http://sourceforge.net/projects/bittorrent/;http://bittorrent.cvs.sourceforge.net/bittorrent/BitTorrent/; YahooBittomet Group:http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/BitTorrent/; andhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_tree.

Some embodiments of the present invention provide for video viewing anddownloading from the network site 104 (FIG. 1). That is, videos may beavailable for viewing and downloading on the network site 104. When amember publicly shares a video a sample may be put up to view. By way ofexample, in some embodiments the sample may be up to 3 minutes (or someother length), so in some cases users can see most or all of a videooffering. In some embodiments if a user wants to download a file and hisor her computer includes the client software application, then one clickmay open the client and immediately begin downloading the file. If theuser's computer does not include the client software, then the softwarecan be downloaded (e.g., manually or automatically).

For example, in some embodiments a method for use in providing contentmay comprise the following steps, which are illustrated in FIG. 7 as themethod 700. Namely, in step 702 a network site may be hosted on acomputer network, and in step 704 links to one or more videos may bedisplayed on the network site. In step 706 at least an on-demand previewof a first video may be displayed on the network site in response to acorresponding one of the links being selected, and in step 708 an optionto download the first video may be displayed on the network site.

In step 710, the first video may be downloaded to a client computer byrunning a computer program on the client computer in response to thedownload option being selected. The program may download the video inchunks, coming from two or more computers or servers on the network.That is, the downloading may comprise a distributed download asdescribed above where, for example, the video is downloaded in piecesfrom two or more computers or other devices on the network. A similarprocess can be applied to stream video from the server or from multiplepeers.

Some embodiments of the client software application may comprise a videocreating and/or editing tool. For example, a video creator tool may beincluded with the client software application to allow the combining ofmedia such as video clips, audio, and digital photos into a movie ormultimedia presentation. The tool may allow the user to choose asoundtrack, rotate images, prune video, etc. Some embodiments may allowvideos to be created and then uploaded to the network site.

For example, in some embodiments a computer program for use in creatingcontent may cause the client computer to execute the following steps,which are illustrated in FIG. 8 as the method 800. Namely, in step 802 atool for creating videos may be displayed on a display screen of theclient computer, and in step 804 a first video may be created inresponse to user interaction with the tool. In step 806 informationrelating to the first video may be uploaded to a database that storesinformation relating to a plurality of videos, including video datainformation of some or all of the created video clip. In step 808 anon-demand preview of the first video may be displayed on the displayscreen of a second client computer using the uploaded video datainformation. In step 810 a command to download the first video may bemade available on a display screen of the second client computer. And instep 812 in some embodiments, a download of the created video to thesecond client computer may be triggered from one or more computers onthe network that have some of the created video data in response to theuser of the second client computer selecting the command. In someembodiments, the downloading of the created video may be by means of adistributed download. For example, the video may be downloaded in piecesfrom two or more computers or other devices on the network.

In some embodiments, the network site 104 (FIG. 1) may comprise theability to provide media-to-go film strips, RSS (really simplesyndication) feeds and other types of XML data feeds such as VideoPodcasting feeds. These items may be used to add content to a socialnetworking site 122, such as for example Friendster, MySpace, or Bloggerpages, or any other site 124.

In some embodiments, the media-to-go lets a user copy and paste codedirectly to any HTML page. The result may comprise film strip of videoand photos (e.g., in one or more diagonal, horizontal, vertical rows)that gets updated every time a new item is added to the network site104. The user may choose a category, search term, even a particularmember and have a personalized film strip that may be kept up to date.In some embodiments the client software application is not even needed.

For example, in some embodiments a method for use in providing contentmay comprise the following steps, which are illustrated in FIG. 9 as themethod 900. Namely, in step 902 a network site may be hosted on acomputer network, and in step 904 a means to upload video over thenetwork may be provided. In step 906 one or more thumbnail still imagesfrom the uploaded video may be created, and in step 908 an on-demandvideo clip based on the uploaded video data may be created. In step 910links to one or more videos uploaded over the network may be displayedon the network site. In step 912 a tool for searching through the one ormore videos may be displaying on the network site, and in step 914 aresult of a search through the one or more videos may be displayed onthe network site.

In step 916 an option may be displayed on the network site to post afilm strip widget that is representative of the result of the search toa different network site. The film strip widget may include a display ofthe still images for the corresponding videos and a command to start anon-demand playback of the created on-demand video clip for any videoincluded in the film strip. In step 918 the film strip widget that isrepresentative of the result of the search may then be posted to thedifferent network site in response to the option being selected. Thefilm strip may then be updated. The film-strip embeddable HTML codeincludes identifiers that are used by the film-strip code to identifyone or more video files to be displayed in the film-strip. For example,the information may include a video sharer user ID or a video searchterm. The film-strip code uses this information to query a server formeta-data about video such as video name, playback web-page networklocation, description and duration and information locating a stillimage thumbnail for the video on the network. This meta-data may be usedby the film-strip code to display the film-strip content and to allowusers to click on a thumbnail to browse the video's playback web-pageand to play the video.

With respect to RSS feeds, in some embodiments step 916 may be replacedwith a step of displaying on the network site an option to create a feedthat will provide notifications of updates to the result of a search.Similarly, step 918 may be replaced with the step of providingnotifications of updates to the result of a search to users who aresubscribers to the feed.

In some embodiments, the method 900 may also include a step of providingan option to initiate a download of a selected one of the videos. Insome embodiments, the downloading of the video may be by means of adistributed download. For example, the video may be downloaded in piecesfrom two or more computers or other devices on the network. Suchfilmstrips and RSS feeds may be used to keep users connected to thethings that matter to them. With RSS feeds, information can be broughtto the user instead of the user having to find the information. Forexample, a user can subscribe to receive notifications to favorite newsreader software or My Yahoo! page when new listed groups are available.This may allow the user to have the most recent information on thethings he or she finds interesting. Thus, an RSS feed allows a user tosubscribe to the a category and see every time a new group of interestis added.

In some embodiments it can be made to work by browsing a category in thepublic directory web pages. An “RSS” icon may be displayed at the bottomof the page. A user may right-click on the “RSS” icon, choose “CopyShortcut”, and paste it into the user's RSS reader software. Or, in someembodiments if the user is a My Yahoo! User he or she may just click ona ‘My Y!’ icon to subscribe. In some embodiments, the user may subscribeto provided RSS feeds using his web-browser software application. Insome cases, an HTML representation of the RSS file is displayed when theuser clicks on the icon. This representation contains instructionsregarding subscribing to the clicked RSS feed.

In some embodiments, when an RSS feeds contains meta-data about sharedvideo, when a new video is shared that matches the criteria specified bythe feed, it will automatically be added to the feed and subscriberswill be able to be notified regarding the new video existence and areable to read video meta-data, to watch the video and to download it totheir computer. For example, for an RSS feed of the publicly sharedvideo clips by a user, when the user shares a new video, it is added tothe feed and RSS readers display information about the new video whenthey query the feed for updates get the new RSS item that represents thevideo. When an RSS feed identifies a search term, when new video isshared that corresponds to this search term, the video will be includedin the feed and users that are subscribed to this feed will be able tobe notified when the new video is available, read video meta-data, watchthe video or download it.

In some embodiments groups may be tracked by search terms. A user maysubscribe to all groups that match a search term by performing a searchin the directory and using the RSS icon at the bottom of search resultspages. For example, if a user likes BreakBeat, just search for “breaks”and subscribe using the RSS icon at the bottom of the search results webpages to receive updates when new breaks groups are created.

In some embodiments a user may also be the first to join new groups.Interesting newly created groups may be joined by subscribe to a NewGroups Feed. Users may also keep up with friends' groups. Namely, when auser sees a user nickname in the public directory web page, the user canclick on it to view that user's listed groups. The “RSS” link at thebottom of the page may be used to subscribe to receive a notificationwhen this user had created or joined a listed group.

Thus, the RSS feed helps users make the most of their media, keepingthem close to their friends.

In some embodiments of the present invention the client softwareapplication may comprise a camera still image and/or video importingtool and/or wizard. Such camera import wizard can help make the clientsoftware a true end-to-end solution for getting video and photos from auser's camera to the web. For example, a camera 128 (FIG. 1) may beplugged into one of the client computers 116. In response to the camera128 being plugged into the computer 116, a user may select the clientsoftware application when Windows asks what the user wants to do, andthen the on screen instructions may be followed. Thus, in a few quicksteps (or a single user action in some configurations) the media may betaken from the camera 128 and uploaded to the network site 104. In someembodiments the user may add titles, description, and tags to helpfriends find them easily.

For example, in some embodiments a computer program for use inmanipulating content on a client computer may cause the client computerto execute the following steps, which are illustrated in FIG. 10 as themethod 1000. Namely, in step 1002 the client computer may communicatewith a digital camera connected to the client computer and in step 1004import images and/or video from the camera into the client computer.Then, in step 1006 a first video may be established in response to thestep of importing images and/or video from the camera. In step 1008 thecomputer may communicate through a computer network to uploadinformation relating to the first video to a database that storesinformation relating to a plurality of videos, including video data ofsome or all of the first video. In step 1010 links to one or more of theplurality of videos including the first video may be displayed on adisplay screen of the client computer. In step 1012 at least anon-demand preview of the first video using the uploaded video data maybe displayed on the display screen of the client computer in response toa corresponding one of the links being selected. In step 1014 a commandto download the first video clip may be displayed, and in step 1016 thefirst video may be downloaded to the client computer by running acomputer program on the client computer in response to the downloadoption being selected. In some embodiments, the downloading of the firstvideo may be by means of a distributed download. For example, theprogram may download the first video in chunks, coming from two or morecomputers or servers on the network, similar to as described above.

In some embodiments, the network site 104 (FIG. 1) may comprise feedsfor portable devices, such as portable audio and/or video players, suchas for example mobile phones, PDA's, or media devices such as thepopular Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP)™ or Apple iPod™. For example, aportable (or mobile) device 130 may be plugged into one of the clientcomputers 118, and the network site 104 may provide a feed for suchportable device. This helps a user transfer video into the portable (ormobile) device 130. In some embodiments, video meta-data is provided inVideo Podcasting feeds and in Media RSS feeds. These extended RSS feedsallow RSS readers such as SONY PSP Media Manager and Apple iTunes thatare designed to handle multimedia data such as video to download videofiles specified in RSS items to the users computer and to portable videoplayback devices for playback.

In some embodiments, some or all of the video that is available on thenetwork site may be specially formatted to play on such portable (ormobile) devices. In some embodiments, the user does not have to downloadthe video one file at a time. Namely, the network site may provide forthe user to subscribe to personalized feeds (categories, search terms,user-specific, or single items) and the content may be downloadedautomatically and synchronized to the portable device.

In some embodiments, a portable or mobile device may include mediamanager software, such as with some models of the Sony PlayStationPortable. The network site 104 may be configured to work with suchmanager software so that videos may be delivered straight to theportable device. In some embodiments, the RSS reader that is used toconsume RSS feed and to download video described in these feeds, isrunning directly on some models of the Sony PlayStation Portable.

For example, in some embodiments a method for use in providing contentmay comprise the following steps, which are illustrated in FIG. 11 asthe method 1100. Namely, in step 1102 a network site may be hosted on acomputer network, and in step 1104 links to one or more videos uploadedover the network may be displayed on the network site. In step 1106 oneor more video files may be generated from the uploaded video in a formatthat is supported for playback on one or more portable video players. Instep 1108 a tool for searching through the one or more videos may bedisplayed on the network site, and in step 1110 a result of a searchthrough the one or more videos may be displayed on the network site. Instep 1112 procedures for allowing viewing of video that isrepresentative of the result of the search on one or more portable videoplayers may be displayed on the network site. And then in step 1114 oneor more generated video files that are representative of the result ofthe search may be transferred to one of the portable video players inresponse to the procedures being followed. In some embodiments, thetransferring or downloading of the video may be by means of adistributed download. For example, the video may be downloaded in piecesfrom two or more computers or other devices on the network. Eachtransferred video clip may be playable on the mobile video player. Thevideo that is representative of the result of the search in the portabledevice may be updated.

Thus, some embodiments of the present invention provide a scalable,public and private decentralized video distribution scheme. Privatelarge file transfers in file sharing groups may take place. Theinformation in such transfers may be encrypted. Public large filetransfers may also take place, and streaming media may be supported. Thesystem may provide good web integration, including web integration viaspecial URLs, and digital rights management (DRM) may also be supported.

In some embodiments the network site may include an integrateddistributed search engine. In some embodiments high-quality video inplay-lists may be pushed to client software based on user subscriptionsand play-lists. Mobile video files may be created from user shared videoin the client and distributed using a peer-to-peer (P2P) scheme. By wayof example, 3GPP and MP4 may be supported.

In some embodiments a distributed download feature in a peer-to-peer(P2P) scheme may be used with distributed file blocks transfer. Fileblocks and hashing may be used, and file verification may be used. NAT(Network Address Translation) hole punching may be supported, andWindows XP firewall transversal may be supported to bridge fire-walledclients. Media transcoding and streaming may be used in the P2P scheme,and downloads verification may be used. It is believed that such ascheme is more scalable, cheaper and faster than centralized filedistribution. It is also believed to lead to user upstream bandwidthpreservation and conservation. The ability to distribute storage at thehost layer may enable efficient low cost storage alternatives.Furthermore, P2P may allow for high quality content distribution thatare prohibitive to centralized streaming economics. Unlimited file sizeand number of files shared may be supported. Any file type and videoformat may also be supported, and tracking, multi-sourcing and swarmingmay be supported. A lightweight file transfer and manager may be used,and the transfer manager may be integrated with the client video playerfor seamless playback experience.

A swarm may comprise the peer computers that are used in a peer-to-peer(P2P) file distribution protocol. Such concepts are explained on theInternet at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bittorrent, the entirecontents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

A low level of technical knowledge should be sufficient on the part ofusers to use the scheme. In some embodiments the ability to use thesystem may be packaged in one client software package with an easy touse and fun user interface. The client software package may be autoupdateable. The client software package, which may also be referred toas the desktop client, may comprise one of the software components ofthe system. The network site web application may comprise anothercomponent. Other components may include P2P network servers and/or XMLweb services. In some embodiments digital video encoding, flash videorecording, tags and related media processing, users, groups and videodatabases, and/or automated testing bots may also be supported.

Different embodiments may operate in different ways. For example, thenetwork site may be focused on video or some other media. Videos may bewatched on both the network site and via the client softwareapplication, or only on one or the other. In some embodiments, whenvideos are watched on the network site and/or via the client softwareapplication they are streamed. Similarly, videos may be shared and/orcreated on both the network site and via the client softwareapplication, or only on one or the other. In some embodiments theability to publish videos may be enabled with a small number ofprocedures or interactions by the user, such as only one-click. In someembodiments webcam instant posting and webcam video comments may beused. In some embodiments a search engine may be used that is optimizedwith custom RSS feeds. In some embodiments videos may be downloaded tothe desktop or to a portable device.

Referring to FIG. 12, there is illustrated an example system 1200 thatmay be used in some embodiments for implementing, running and/orexecuting any of the methods and/or techniques described herein. By wayof example, the system 1200 or any portion(s) thereof may be used forimplementing any of the client computers or devices mentioned herein. Byway of further example, the system 1200 or any portion(s) thereof may beused for implementing any of the data centers mentioned herein. Use ofthe system 1200 or any portion thereof, however, is certainly notrequired.

By way of example, the system 1200 may include, but is not required toinclude, a central processing unit (CPU) 1202, a graphics processingunit (GPU) 1204, digital differential analysis (DDA) hardware 1206, arandom access memory (RAM) 1208, and a mass storage unit 1210, such as adisk drive. Thus, in some embodiments the system 1200 comprises aprocessor based system. The system 1200 may be coupled to, or integratedwith, a display 1212, such as for example any type of display. Again,some or all of the aforementioned components may not be needed and arenot required.

The CPU 1202 and/or GPU 1204 may be used to execute or assist inexecuting the steps of the methods and techniques described herein, andvarious program content, images and/or videos may be rendered on thedisplay 1212. Removable storage media 1214 may optionally be used withthe mass storage unit 1210, which may be used for storing code thatimplements the methods, techniques and/or features described herein.However, any of the storage devices, such as the RAM 1208 or massstorage unit 1210, may be used for storing such code. Either all or aportion of the system 1200 may be embodied in any type of device, suchas for example a television, computer, video game console or system,portable device, handheld device, or any other type of device, includingany type of device mentioned herein.

Example physical layouts that may be used for the data center 106(FIG. 1) in some embodiments are illustrated in FIGS. 13, 14 and 15. Forexample, in FIG. 13 two cabinets may be used and may provide for a GNI(ISP) termination point. For networking, additional redundancy may beused, and a single load balancer and a single catalyst may be used. Forservers, redundant media servers (MediaX) may be used, and redundant weband video servers (WebX, VideoX) may be used. For the test/stagingenvironment, it may supports a QA process.

For example, in FIG. 14 four cabinets may be used. A new catalyst switchmay be used to facilitate migration and provide redundancy for network.An active directory may be used for central control of services,authentication, etc. An exchange mail server may be used, and it may beoutbound only.

While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means ofspecific embodiments and applications thereof, numerous modificationsand variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.

1. A method for use in providing content, comprising: hosting a networksite on a computer network; providing means to upload video over thenetwork; creating one or more thumbnail still images from the uploadedvideo; creating an on-demand video clip based on the uploaded videodata; displaying on the network site links to one or more videosuploaded over the network; providing an option to initiate a download ofa selected one of the videos in pieces from two or more computers on thenetwork; displaying on the network site a tool for searching through theone or more videos; displaying on the network site a result of a searchthrough the one or more videos; displaying on the network site an optionto create a film strip widget that is representative of the result ofthe search, wherein the film strip widget includes display of the stillimages for the corresponding videos and a command to start an on-demandplayback of the created on-demand video clip for any video included inthe film strip; and posting the film strip widget that is representativeof the result of the search to a different network site in response tothe option being selected.
 2. A method in accordance with claim 1,further comprising: updating the film strip.
 3. A method in accordancewith claim 1, wherein the different network site comprises a socialnetworking site.
 4. A method for use in providing content, comprising:hosting a network site on a computer network; providing means to uploadvideo over the network; creating one or more thumbnail still images fromthe uploaded video; creating an on-demand video clip based on theuploaded video data; displaying on the network site links to one or morevideos uploaded over the network; providing an option to initiate adownload of a selected one of the videos in pieces from two or morecomputers on the network; displaying on the network site a tool forsearching through the one or more videos; displaying on the network sitea result of a search through the one or more videos; displaying on thenetwork site an option to create a feed that will provide notificationsof updates to the result of a search; and providing notifications ofupdates to the result of a search to users who are subscribers to thefeed.
 5. A method in accordance with claim 4, wherein an update to theresult of a search comprises a new video being shared that matches acriteria specified by the search.